# US Building Permits Scraper - 30 Cities, One Format (`miller_t/us-building-permits`) Actor

Get new building permits from 30 US cities and counties (Chicago, NYC, LA, SF, Seattle, Austin, Dallas and more) in one clean format: address, job value, permit type, contractor, owner, dates, lat/long. Filter by date, keyword and job value. Leads for contractors, solar, roofing and suppliers.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/miller_t/us-building-permits.md
- **Developed by:** [Miller Twain](https://apify.com/miller_t) (community)
- **Categories:** Lead generation, Real estate
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

$4.00 / 1,000 permits

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## US Building Permits Scraper - 30 Cities, One Format

Get fresh **building permits** from 30 US cities and counties in **one clean format**. Every city publishes permits differently. This actor finds each city's official open-data permit feed, maps its columns to the same fields, and gives you one tidy table.

### Who uses it

- **Contractors and trades** (roofing, solar, HVAC, pools, electrical): find new jobs and the contractors who won them.
- **Building suppliers**: reach contractors the week they pull a permit.
- **Real estate and investors**: track new construction and renovations by zip.
- **Analysts**: compare construction activity across cities.

### Cities

Chicago, New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Kansas City, Mesa, Honolulu, Cambridge, Somerville, Providence, Cincinnati, Norfolk, Montgomery County MD, Prince George's County MD, Gainesville, Cary, Oakland, San Mateo County, Sacramento County, Roseville, Little Rock, Bloomington, Everett. Plus **any other Socrata open-data permit dataset** you paste in.

If a city moves its dataset, the actor searches that city's portal and picks up the new one by itself. The run's `SUMMARY` record shows which dataset each city used.

### Input

| Field | What it does |
|---|---|
| Cities | Pick cities. Or turn on **All cities**. |
| From / To date | Issue date range. Default: last 30 days. |
| Keyword | Full-text filter: `solar`, `roof`, `pool`, `ADU`, `demolition`... |
| Min job value | e.g. `50000` for bigger jobs only. |
| Max permits per city / total | Cost caps. |
| Extra Socrata dataset URLs | Add any city we don't list yet. |
| Include raw record | Adds every original column under `raw`. |

### Output

```json
{
  "city": "Chicago",
  "state": "IL",
  "permitNumber": "...",
  "permitType": "PERMIT - RENOVATION/ALTERATION",
  "status": "ISSUED",
  "workDescription": "...",
  "issueDate": "2026-10-01",
  "appliedDate": "2026-09-12",
  "address": "...",
  "zip": "60601",
  "latitude": 41.88,
  "longitude": -87.62,
  "valuation": 45000,
  "contractorName": "...",
  "contractorPhone": "...",
  "ownerName": "...",
  "source": "https://data.cityofchicago.org/d/ydr8-5enu"
}
```

The values above are placeholders showing the shape. Fields a city does not publish come back as `null`.

### Pricing

**$4.00 per 1,000 permits**, pay per result. No monthly fee. Set a spending limit and the run stops cleanly at it.

### Tips

- Schedule it daily with `From date` left empty to get a rolling 30-day feed, or set a 1-day window for only new permits.
- Use the API or integrations (Google Sheets, Zapier, Make) to push new permits into your CRM.

### Data source

Official city and county open-data portals (Socrata). Public records, no login, no scraping of private sites.

### Issues

City missing or a field wrong? Open an issue. New cities get added on request.

# Actor input Schema

## `cities` (type: `array`):

Cities to pull permits from.

## `allCities` (type: `boolean`):

Pull from every supported city.

## `dateFrom` (type: `string`):

Permits issued on or after this date. Default: 30 days ago.

## `dateTo` (type: `string`):

Permits issued on or before this date. Default: today.

## `keyword` (type: `string`):

Full-text filter, e.g. solar, roof, pool, demolition, ADU.

## `minValuation` (type: `integer`):

Only permits with a declared job value at least this. 0 = all.

## `maxResultsPerCity` (type: `integer`):

0 = no limit.

## `maxResults` (type: `integer`):

0 = no limit.

## `customDatasets` (type: `array`):

Any other city permit dataset on a Socrata portal, e.g. https://data.example.gov/d/abcd-1234

## `includeRaw` (type: `boolean`):

Add every original column under raw.

## `socrataAppToken` (type: `string`):

Only needed for very large pulls.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "cities": [
    "chicago",
    "new-york",
    "los-angeles",
    "austin"
  ],
  "allCities": false,
  "minValuation": 0,
  "maxResultsPerCity": 1000,
  "maxResults": 0,
  "includeRaw": false
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

All permits scraped in this run.

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "cities": [
        "chicago",
        "new-york",
        "los-angeles",
        "austin"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("miller_t/us-building-permits").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = { "cities": [
        "chicago",
        "new-york",
        "los-angeles",
        "austin",
    ] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("miller_t/us-building-permits").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "cities": [
    "chicago",
    "new-york",
    "los-angeles",
    "austin"
  ]
}' |
apify call miller_t/us-building-permits --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,miller_t/us-building-permits"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/udoymuO6EVcnPfyUh/builds/Yzp65xAnAbM4D085F/openapi.json